Travel Story «Azerbaijan the land of fire!»

Azebaijan ... something different | Azerbaijan | 0 Comments 22 June 2014 - Last Update 22 June 2014

Salam!

Yes I know it has been a while but guess what I was mentally busy with 2 test events we did in May and June.  It was our first experience putting all the local and international pieces together into 2 events.

We started with the European Youth Olympic Trials EYOT and had around 1200 people staying in our Village, using 3 buildings. To give you an idea of the size: in 2015 we will be using 13 buildings! We had to pull everything out of the closet to get in going but the participants and their entourage where really excited about their stay in the Village.  Still the adaptation of us, Internationals, here is still a work in progress.  I am confident that by the time the European games come along we will have a great collaboration and a massive good event.

The second event was the European Championships of Rhythmic Gymnastics ERGC.  Our Village was home for the creme de la creme of the European Rhythmic Gymnastics.  Only 500 residents this time and 1.5 buildings but the sport is really big down here.  The first lady was a gymnast herself and was the ambassador for this event.  We had to step up and deliver again. And guess what ... we nailed it!

So 5 weeks of hard work are now behind me and I celebrated this with a beach party yesterday.  One of the big resorts had it's official opening last night and Craig David was performing.  You don't need to know me that well to know that this is not really my kind of music.  But hey this is a different country, culture and I see it as part of the experience.  I enjoyed chilling at the pool in the arvo and then have a bit of a dance in the evening.

In between the 2 test events I had a couple of days of and I managed to get my work done before so I could go on a little trip to Georgia!  Yes I am planning to see as much as I can around here while I am here.  Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia and I can only recommend it as it was awesome!  3 friends and myself signed up for a little adventure on the overnight train from Baku. If we forget about some drunken Russians and the bad toilet ... it was actually a nice little trip.  I got introduced to a game called: Cards against humanity and it had been a while I laughed that much.  It could be me being silly but pretty sure I know some people that would have loads of fun with this game. The border crossing was interesting as well as it is a style that is unique for this region in the world I think.  Nothing bad or wrong, just different!

Tbilisi is so different then Baku.  It is green, hilly, cheap, old, ... loved it. We went back to our roots and stayed in a simple backpackers in a room without windows.  It wasn't glamorous but perfect :)  I have been lucky to have seen bits of the world but Georgia is something completely different.  The Soviet influence in the landscape is still really present and I have never been in a country like that.  It is also a country that is still not fully discovered by the tourists so my travel friends ... go!

It would be to long to go through everything I did that weekend but the Soviet Funk DJ night might be worth mentioning.  It was weird, funny, a bit scary and ... err .. interesting.  Something everyone should do/see/experience once in their lives!  Haha I'll leave it to your imagination.

Well this is it for now.  Think I did pretty well!

The E. x